👋 Ola!*
Welcome to Thursday, where Russia’s state media claims Yemen’s Houthi rebels have successfully tested a hypersonic missile in the Red Sea, the U.S. and China face off over Washington’s TikTok ban and LGBTQ+ love scores a goal in Australia. Meanwhile, we visit 9 body-positivity influencers around the world.
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Copenhagen-based daily Politiken features Danish soldiers training, after the country’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced that the country will boost its military spending by nearly $6 billion over the next five years to meet NATO targets. Coming amid the Russia-Ukraine war, Mette said the rearmament is aimed at avoiding war with Russia and addressing “defense shortcomings.” As a result, Denmark extended its military conscription to women, who could already volunteer for service. Read more about Scandinavia’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Worldcrunch.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Yemen’s Houthis have tested hypersonic missile, report claims: The Houthi rebels have successfully tested a hypersonic rocket in Yemen, Russia’s state media RIA Novosti reported Thursday, citing a military source, potentially raising the stakes in the Iran-backed group’s ongoing attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis “intend to begin manufacturing it for use during attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel,” the Russian report says.
• Second ship loaded with Gaza aid in Cyprus, EU warns of famine: A second ship was being loaded with 300 tons of food aid for Gaza at a Cyprus port on Thursday, a charity arranging the mission said, as the first ship bearing maritime deliveries neared the besieged Palestinian enclave. The EU's humanitarian aid and crisis management chief Janez Lenarcic warned there are already pockets of famine in Gaza, which could spread to the whole enclave. Meanwhile, a UN investigation found that Israel violated international law last year when an Israeli tank in Lebanon fired on “clearly identifiable journalists,” killing a Reuters journalist.
• North Korea's Kim Jong Un drives new tank during launch drill: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined his troops during a mock battle to operate newly developed battle tanks, as a response to the annual 11-day South Korean-U.S. military drills which are ending on Thursday. The leader praised the country’s latest tank as “the world’s most powerful” as he called for bigger efforts to prepare for war.
• Dutch far-right firebrand Geert Wilders won’t be prime minister: Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders announced he was abandoning his bid to become prime minister, despite his party's dramatic victory in the 2023 elections, due to a lack of support across the political spectrum. Talks will continue between Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) and three other parties to decide on the shape of a new government. For more, we offer this article by Indian news website The Wire debunking the "people's party" sham of right-wing populists.
• Same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional, Japan top court says: A Japanese high court in the northern city of Sapporo has ruled on Thursday that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and called for urgent government action to address the lack of any law allowing such unions. Japan is the only G7 nation that doesn’t provide legal protection for same-sex unions. Read more on LGBTQ+ news on Worldcrunch.
• China warns U.S. Tiktok ban will “backfire”: China’s foreign ministry has described a potential TikTok ban as “an act of bullying” that “will eventually backfire on the U.S.,” after Wednesday’s vote in the House of Representatives that overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force the app’s owner ByteDance to sell it to an American company be barred in the U.S. Check this article translated from French to English by Worldcrunch: “America's TikTok Ban: Welcome To The United States Of Chinaphobia.”
• Trailblazing Australian soccer player proposes to partner on pitch: Australian soccer player Josh Cavallo, who in 2021 became the first top-flight male professional soccer star to come out as gay, proposed marriage to his partner on the pitch of Adelaide United’s home ground. “It felt right to share this special moment on the pitch, where it all started,” said Cavallo.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$2.2 billion
American tobacco corporation and Marlboro cigarette maker, The Altria Group, said it will sell over $2.2 billion of its stake in Belgian-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewing company. Bloomberg reported that AB InBev finalized the sale to fund its own share repurchases, buying $200 million of ordinary shares from Altria, the parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris U.S.A. AB InBev, the owner of Bud Light and Stella Artois, has faced declining Bud Light sales after a U.S boycott of the brand, represented by a 17.3% fall in fourth-quarter revenue.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Meet 9 proud champions of the body positivity movement around the world
In a world that's moving faster day by day, these people from around the world spread the same positive message to love yourself, no matter the size nor the shape of your body. And they are doing so on the very origin of this body-image struggle: social media.
✊🎤 Italian rapper Marianna Mammone, 25, in art BigMama, was a contestant at last month's Sanremo Festival, the most popular Italian song television contest and award ceremony. Known for her lyrics of great social impact, telling the story of how she was bullied as a teenager, she showed up on stage well aware that her body would have attracted nasty comments. And so it did. "Whatever a woman does will always be criticized for her physique," Mammone said in a recent interview.
📺 Barbie Ferreira, 27, Brazilian-American, known for her role as Kat in the series Euphoria, was a plus-size model before being an actress and she didn't really liked her body before entering the modeling world, where she was forced to face the truth: contrary to her belief, her body was just as good as the others. And Euphoria taught her the same lesson, and so did the audience, many of whom thanked her for her portrayal of a character in which they could see themselves.
💃 Based in Mumbai, Anjana Bapat, 33, may be India's best-known body-positivity influencer, breaking through as a belly dancer and TV and film personality exuding confidence and warmth. Being a Bollywood dancer, the kind of dance that "requires" a certain body type, she's putting herself against society's expectations. She shows off her dancing skills and positive attitude through her Instagram account. She refers to Indian beauty as an insane set of standards that put a blanket of insecurities over her as a youth.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“Every day felt like an eternity.”
— Freed Israeli hostage Itay Regev has given an interview to the BBC, sharing his account of being kidnapped and held in Gaza. Regev, 19, was kidnapped as he was participating in the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel. Regev, whose sister was also kidnapped by Hamas, described being operated on without anesthetic and other “horrific” conditions he endured. Having been released in November with his sister and other hostages, he asked for the 130 Israelis still held hostage in Gaza to be freed “whatever the cost.” More on this topic: For A Gaza Truce, Hostages Remain The Hardest Question.
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet and Katrina Scalise
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